The Amity Spartans Boys’ Ice Hockey team hosted the Hamden Green Dragons in a scrimmage game on Wednesday night.

Both teams played hard in the first period and Amity scored its’f first goal with less than a minute remaining in the half.

Amity Goalie Tyler Johnston did a phenomenal job stopping every shot that came his way.

The second half showed the Dragons coming back with a vengeance, firing shot after shot at goal tender Tyler Cole. Within the first few minutes they pulled ahead of Amity 2-1. At 19:21 they brought the score to 3-1.

Three minutes later, the Spartans narrowed the margin 2-3.

With 9 minutes to go, the Dragons continued their assault and got another goal — 4-2.

Two minutes later, they pulled even further ahead —5-2.

With 3 minutes remaining Amity scored again — 3-5. But the Dragons would have none of that and got another past Cole with just 1:35 on the clock — 3-6.

Not to be left behind, Amity scored the final game goal as the clock wound down from 32:09.

The Spartans may have lost this scrimmage 4-6, but they showed a lot of skill and teamwork throughout the game.

The 2016-17 Amity Spartans are faster and stronger this year. They are scheduled to take a trip of a lifetime to Germany on Dec. 28, where they will play against teams from around the world and have an opportunity to learn some new tricks.

Who knows, this may be the Spartans year…in March 2014, they battled for the state championship title, only to come in second.

Amity may be a force to be reckoned with this year with talented Freshman players, experienced goalies. and many determined teammates, including the Amity Spartans Football kicker.

This is Head Coach Gary Lindren’s last hurrah. Next year, Asst. Coach Mike “Scooter” Richetelli will take he reins.

The Amity Spartans Boys Hockey Team hosted the Branford Hornets in West Haven Wednesday night.

The first period was scoreless with both goalies working hard to keep the puck out of their space. But Branford got a jump on the second period with Zack Withington (10) making an unassisted goal at just :53. Amity fired shot after shot at the net, but Hornet goalie Justin Edwards deflected all of them. With just 2:01 remaining in the period, Withington scored again on an assist from Scott Klouda (21). Period 2 score 2-0 Branford.

When the third period came around it was do or die for both teams. Branford’s William Benni (24) scored on an assist from Michael Annunziata (18) at 5:37.

Amity quickly responded with an unassisted goal by Nick DeGennaro (5) at 6:24 and another at 7:39.

With the point spread narrowing, Branford fought back with an unassisted goal by Robert Lionetti (16) at 8:07.

After five minutes of back-and-forth, Amity scored again, when Charlie Csejka (7) slipped one by Edwards on an assist from Anthony Uscilla (16) at 13:26. [Score 4-3 Branford.]

With just :43 remaining in the game, Withington sealed Branford’s victory on an assist from Benni.

Branford outshot Amity 34-24.

Spartans Goalie Tyler Johnston (31) made some awesome stops.

Final Score 5-3 Branford.

Records: Amity 1-7; Branford 2-4-1

The Spartans are away for the next two games:

Cranston, RI on Saturday, Jan. 16 at 8 p.m. and at North Branford, Monday, Jan. 18 at 1:45 p.m.

When the Amity Hockey team steps onto the ice tonight against North Branford, the “goal” is to prove they can play the game.

With only one win this season (Cheshire 7-2) one tie (North Haven 2-2) and three losses, and just 15 remaining games in 2015, they have to step things up if they are going to see tournament play.

At Saturday’s game against Milford at the Milford Ice Pavillion, David McLenithan, assisted by Jarred Butts got one past Amity goalie Tyler Johnston at 4:45 into the first period putting the Indians in the lead 1-0.

The Spartans came out stronger in the second period taking shots, and playing hard, but it wasn’t until there was only 4:26 remaining that Amity finally scored.

Jeremy Cable, assisted by Kevin Ryan and Dalton Luciani slid one in past the Indians goalie Sean Rowland, tying the game at 1-1.

In the final period, Milford’s Jonathan DePascale passed the puck to Jacob Comeau who scored the winning goal with 5:20 left in the game.

Milford 2, Amity 1.

Milford outshot Amity 27-23 and both goalies earned their keep, Johnston with 25 saves for the Spartans and Rowland with 22 saves for the Indians.

Amity’s coaches were not happy with their teams performance, noting they had a lot of missed opportunities.

Asst. Coach Mike Richetelli said they would work on their plays during Tuesday’s practice and it was time for the senior players to step up and lead.

Tonight’s game takes place at the Bennett Rink in West Haven at 6:30 p.m.

The Amity Spartans Hockey Team is starting to get itself together. After playing hard against the powerful Cheshire team on Saturday and holding their own until the third period when Cheshire pulled ahead, they were denied a tie in the last 2 minutes.

On Tuesday, Dec. 23, with “the other Tyler” Sophomore Tyler Johnston (#31) in the net, Amity took on Guilford.

As in past games the opponent was first to score with Guilford’s Ryan Brand getting a goal, assisted by Jack Petrick and Chris Cafiero, just 2:27 into the first period.

Not to be outdone, Amity answered less than 2 minutes later, tying things up with Adam Moscato’s goal, assisted by Captain Kevin Ryan.

The Spartans would have none of that, and less than 30 seconds later, Shelnitz, assisted by Ryan and Charlie Csejka scored his second goal of the game, bringing the score to 4-2.

In the third period, the Spartans dominated the ice, bringing in three goals: Ryan, unassisted at 5:55; Anthony Uscilla, assisted by Liam Caraciolo at 7:28; and Graham Hughes, assisted by Nick Gallucci at 8:15 – wrapping up the victory at 7-2

Amity outshot Guilford 27-26

Johnston made 24 saves while Guilford’s Kyle Dwyer had 20.

Records: Amity 1-1-1; Guilford 0-3

Coach Gary Lindgren is back this year after taking a break last season due to illness, but he is enjoying working with this young team and watching them grow with each passing game.

So far we’ve seen two goalies, Freshman, Tyler Cole (#30) and Sophomore Tyler Johnston (#31) in the net.

Lindgren said both are young and are gaining experience this year with the coaches flip-flopping them between games.

He said Cole did a great job against Cheshire on Saturday, Dec. 20. “They’re a tough team, they’re really good and we battled hard with them.”

Of Johnston’s performance against Guilford, Lindgren said, “Tyler played extremely well, he made some big stops.”

Of the team as a whole, Lindgren said, “Our schedule is tough, we have to come ready to play. Today (Tuesday Dec. 23) I don’t think we played our best. It was good in spots, but we struggled for the first couple of periods, It’s a good thing we were ahead 4-2 after the first 2 periods. We need to play better. Guilford battled, they have some good players, their goalie is a little inexperienced and we took advantage of that but, I thought it was a pretty even game even though we won 7-2.”

Upcoming Events

The Orange Lions Club will host its annual Spring Wine Tasting event on Friday, March 22, 2019, at St Barbara’s Church Hall, 480 Racebrook Road from 6:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. The tasting will be facilitated by [Read The Full Story]

The 17th Annual Orange Business and Community Expo will take place in a new larger venue, the Beckerman Rec Center at the University of New Haven Campus, 300 Boston Post Road, West Haven. Orange business owners [Read The Full Story]